Radio News

The Broadcasters Foundation of America, the national charity which serves past and present members of the broadcasting profession, has established the Gary Fries Memorial Fund to honor the former Radio Advertising Bureau President and CEO.

Investors looking for a good investment in the media sector better shed any preconceived notions that the radio broadcasting industry is simply "boring." That's because Wall Street observer SeekingAlpha has piggybacked on recent comments from CNBC stock-swayer Jim Cramer by gushing over the opportunities that await from buying Entercom Communications shares today.

Nearly five years ago, a resident of North Miami, Fla., was handed a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture of $25,000 for his efforts designed "to evade detection" of an unlicensed radio operation. Today, the FCC still hasn't silenced the pirate radio operation serving the area's sizable Haitian population. A proposed maximum fine nearly six times that 2012 financial penalty seeks to squelch the broadcasting buccaneer once and for all.

Five Members of the House of Representatives and one Senator have joined as co-sponsors of a bipartisan resolution that opposes "any new performance fee, tax, royalty, or other charge" on local broadcast radio stations. With a bill that would impose royalty payments on airplay of copyrighted recorded works flailing in the House, it's looking ever-less likely that the recording industry will be victorious in its latest efforts to stem a tremendous profit slide.

NPR and Edison Research in June released The Smart Audio Report. The research showed one clear finding: Voice-activated smart speakers are becoming a must-have device in U.S. homes. In fact, 42% of smart speaker owners consider their device "essential" to everyday life. NPR and Edison have just released more original research from the report.

There's no more potential interference for country music fans seeking to take a musical ride on "U.S. 98.3" in the Raleigh-Durham area. That's because a lengthy battle waged by radio industry veteran Tom Birch against the owner of a co-channel translator that caused signal degradation to Birch's WLUS-FM is over. By order of the FCC, the translator no longer exists.

CBS Radio may be fading into the annals of radio broadcasting history by the end of the year, but it certainly hasn't given up on moving forward and bringing Entercom brands and products that are refreshed and/or relaunched. That's good news for David Field, who is on track to be welcoming a new and improved version of CBS Radio's free streaming mobile app, Radio.com.

Hurricane Irma ravaged much of the Sunshine State, including Southwest Florida—the home of Beasley Media Group's corporate headquarters and six radio stations that were particularly battered by the destructive storm. The company persevered, but Irma solidified one strong thought for Beasley CEO Caroline Beasley: Radio is the essential go-to medium when a community needs its information at its most critical time.

It's been a difficult September for Spanish Broadcasting System, the Hispanic-focused media company led by Raúl Alarcón Jr. First, Hurricane Irma put SBS's South Florida stations to the test. Then, Hurricane Maria stormed through Puerto Rico, creating havoc and destruction. As of Friday morning, two SBS FM stations are the only ones able to broadcast. In the middle of all of this came a notice from OTC Markets that SBS's market capitalization no longer meets its minimum standards.

Sunny days for Southern California radio as the Southern California Broadcasters Association forecasts “busy and active” ad spending activity for its 170 member radio stations in Los Angeles and San Diego during the fourth quarter, in a new report.

New research proves radio advertising drives search results, according to the Radio Advertising Bureau. Based upon its analysis of over 2,100 local radio ads across six different categories, there was a 29% incremental lift in search results. Radio is extremely effective in driving search during weekdays and in the daytime.

CBS Radio’s app doesn’t just get a facelift, navigation, streaming quality, and ad targeting have all been improved. Users can listen to CBS Radio stations by location or genre, while local stations and followed podcasts will appear at the top of the homepage. And there are plenty of choices.

IFPI has released its 2017 Music Consumer Insight Report, “Connecting With Music,” which looks at the ways fans are engaging with recorded music across 13 of the world's leading music markets. The report reveals that more Americans are streaming music on smartphones, but the numbers don’t match those in other countries.

How important are streaming audio services to the music industry? If not for them, revenue for the record labels would be far less than what's being reported today. It paints a picture that explains why efforts on Capitol Hill, thus far unsuccessful, to introduce new fees on broadcast radio for the airplay of recorded music were seen this year. Simply put, the recording industry's run out of ways to make money from the sale of singles and albums.

As part of his written response to an inquiry from leading Democrats on the House E&C Committee, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai affirmed that its television Joint Sales Agreement (JSA) attribution rule will be up for reconsideration. While that will likely impact the broadcast TV industry and media brokers, radio industry's C-Suite need not fret about any changes to its JSA regulations.